Tolerant

Tolerant

HE WAS A JEW BUT AFTER ALL A HUMAN

He was sitting with His friends in an open place in Medina. A funeral was passing by in front of them. It was obvious in every respect, that the funeral was a Jewish one. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stood up and waited until the funeral passed by. His friends were amazed and warned him by thinking “maybe He had not realized the situation”:

“O Apostle of Allah! This was a Jew.”

In other words, He was not a Muslim. So, it had not been necessary for you to stand up.

Yet, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had been aware of everything from the beginning; so, he answered:

“But at the same time he was a human.” (1)

GIVE UP BOTHERING ABDULLAH

His friends complained to the Apostle of Allah (PBUH) about one of their friends. This was Abdullah, the son of Huzafa.

They said: “He makes jokes too much and has been occupied with idle things.”

The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not heed it and said:

“Give up bothering Abdullah because he is a person who really loves Allah and His apostle.” (2)

CURSE TO A DRUNK

A Muslim who had been caught as a drunk many times was brought to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the same state. At that moment, someone who could not tolerate it said to the drunken man:

“May Allah’s curse be upon you”

By knitting his eyebrows with a stiffed face, yhe prophet Muhammad (PBUH) called out to the person who cursed as follows:

“Do not curse Him. I swear by Allah that, he has always loved Allah and His apostle since I knew him.” (3)

A GOOD SUPPLICATION FOR TAIF

In order to be freed from the troubles of the lengthened siege, his friends wanted him to curse to the city of Taif. When he went to the city of Taif many years ago in order to spread His religion and to get help, he had been met by stoning and spitting. He raised His hands and prayed:

“O Allah! Enrich the folk of Taif with the prosperity of Islam and send them to Medina with the spirit of friendship.”

His supplication was accepted fully as he wished. (4)

EVERYBODY DOES WHAT FITS HIM

The Prophet had stopped for lunch during a journey. He chose a tree that was away from the place where his friends had camped in order to have a rest. After he fell asleep, Ghawrath the chief of a tribe, who was an unbeliever and who wanted to kill him noticed him. He wanted to make use of this opportunity by killing Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and became famous among Arabs. He tiptoed toward him excitedly and quietly. He took Hazrat Muhammad’s sword, which was on a branch of the tree, and touched the throat of the Prophet, who was sleeping, with the sword. Touched by the cold metal, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) opened his eyes and saw Ghawrath grinning arrogantly. Ghawrath was sure about his victory and asked the Prophet arrogantly,

“O Muhammad! Who will save you from me now?”

Seemingly, he was right because if he had pushed the sword for two centimeters, it would have been the end of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). However, there was no sign of excitement or fear in the Prophet. He answered the question of Ghawrath by shouting:

"Allah!.."

Upon the terror of the exclamation “Allah”, Ghawrath fell down on his back and his sword fell off. Then, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) stood up suddenly and grabbed his sword. He touched his throat with the sword. Now it was just the opposite. The Prophet asked him smilingly and calmly,

“O Gavrath! Who will save you from me now?”

Unfortunately, Ghawrath had no chance to say “Allah!” because he was an unbeliever. However, he proved that he was very clever giving the following answer,

“O Muhammad! Let everybody do what fits him.”

Upon this life saving answer, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) removed his sword and said,

“You are free; you can leave now.” (5)

THE MAGICIAN

A Jew from Medina who was called Labid cast a spell on him. The apostle of Allah was affected by it. Later on, he was saved from it by Allah. And he learnt the name of this evil doer. However, no one disturbed this Jew. No one said anything to him. The Jew, Labid was forgiven silently. (6)

IF I WERE NOT JUST

He was distributing the booty among his friends. One of the newly converted Muslims objected to it.

“This distribution is not just.”

And the objector walked away angrily. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) became sad. He quietly said:

“Shame on you, if I were not just, then who could be?” And then, he turned towards his friends?

“Bring him to me kindly without rebuking him. (7)

UNFAMILIAR WITH SALAH

The son of Abu Sufyan, Muawiya had recently converted. He did not know that speaking is not allowed during salah and one day at a congregation prayer behind the prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he spoke. He said to a person who sneezed:

“May Allah have mercy upon you.”

Muslims worried that the prayer would be invalidated and they wanted to silence him with hand signals and glancing. This exited Muawiya more. And he continued to speak.

“Why are you looking? I did not understand anything.”

This time, Muslims silenced Muawiya by stroking their legs with their hands. At last, the prayer finished. However, Muawiya was drenched in perspiration because of the sense of guiltiness. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) came up to him.

“It is not allowed to speak about world matters while praying. Salah consists of, tasbih, takbir and the Qur’an.”

After years of this incident, Muawiya narrated it as follows; "I had never seen a better teacher than Him. He neither scolded me nor was angry with me”. (8)

EVIL FOR EVIL

An immigrant Arab wanted from him goods and money by hanging and pulling his garment. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stumbled. This formed a blood blister where the garment was pulled. He did not say anything. He asked the man when he calmed down.

“Now tell me whether reprisal would be applied for the harm you have done?”

The immigrant Arab confidently answered:

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because, you do not repay anyone evil for evil”

Upon this answer, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) only smiled. Then, he gave an order. They loaded goods onto the camels of the Arab. (9)

THOSE WHO ATE CAMEL MEAT

He was sitting with a crowd group of friend in the mosque. They had eaten camel meat all together a short time ago. One of them passed wind unavoidably. A fetid odor covered the place. All people there were looking at each other with worry and embarrassment. The adhan would be recited soon and the person who would go out for renewing ablution was going to be understood as the “inducer”. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who evaluated the importance of the issue ordered them:

“Let all of those who ate camel meat with us renew ablution.”

His friends formed a line to have ablution. The convict was saved from being exposed. (10)

CURSE TO DAWS

His friends requested from Him.

“O apostle of Allah! We are unable to cope with the fierceness and mischief of the tribe of the son of Daws. Curse them so that they will settle down.”

He turned towards the Qibla and raised His hands. Everyone was waiting to hear the words of cursing from his lips. They were whispering among themselves.

“The son of Daws will be ruined!”

However, the supplication that was heard from the mouth of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) bewildered everyone there.

“O my Allah, let the son of Daws find the true path. Let them see the truth.”

He repeated this three times. (11)

TOWARDS THE MAN WHO WANTED TO MURDER HIM

A person who wanted to kill him was brought to the Apostle of Allah (PBUH). Since the man did not know what would happen, he was trembling because of fear. The apostle of Allah smiled and tried to silence the man who attempted to murder him by saying:

“Do not fear! Even if you had tried, you could not have succeeded in killing me.”

Then, he gave an order; the man who attempted to murder him was released. (12)